Resources & Shared Capacity

When a single time slot needs to hold multiple bookings at once — for example, a group class, a venue rental, a performance, or full-price/student tickets going on sale for the same show — assign a resource under "Staff & Resource" in the service settings, and the system handles capacity control automatically. A resource can be a physical space, but it can just as well be equipment, a workstation, or anything with a capacity limit. This article covers how to set up a resource, how capacity is calculated, resource-only services (no staff assigned), and what customers and your dashboard actually show.

When You Need This

• Group classes/workshops: a session that holds at most N students (the service's "How It's Carried Out" must be set to "No staff assigned (multiple bookings per slot)" — assigning a resource does not let a single staff member take more than one booking at a time; see below).
• Venue rentals: only one booking allowed per time slot — anything beyond that should show as full.
• Full-price/student tickets on sale together: different services (ticket types) sharing the same capacity limit, because they're selling the same batch of seats.

If each time slot is normally only for one party (you don't need multiple bookings sharing the same slot), keep the "resource" field under "Staff & Resource" at its default, "No resource" — no need to touch resource settings at all. You can still separately enable "Customers choose a headcount" for group-size pricing (for example, a corporate group booking with "10+ people") — this is independent of whether a resource is assigned.

Setting Up a Resource

In the "Staff & Resource" section of the service form, pick an existing resource in the "Resource" field, or add a new one directly from the dropdown (enter a name, capacity, and capacity-counting method on the spot, without leaving the form). When multiple services select the same resource, they naturally share the same capacity limit — for example, if both a full-price ticket and a student ticket service are assigned to "Main Hall," the system adds up bookings across both in real time and checks the total against Main Hall's capacity.

INFO

If services sharing the same resource have different durations, sessions may overlap in time — keep this in mind when setting things up. The system still checks for conflicts across overlapping cases, but we recommend keeping durations consistent when scheduling, to avoid confusing gaps for customers.

Managing Resources Centrally

The "⋮" menu at the top right of the Services list has a "Resources" option for managing all your resources in one place:

• Each resource lists the names of services currently using it, so you can check what will be affected before making changes.
• A resource with no services using it is marked "Unused," meaning it's safe to delete. Resource names must be unique within your business.
• A resource still referenced by a service can't be deleted — reassign the affected services to a different resource, or back to "No resource," first.

Capacity Counted By: Per Booking or Per Person

When creating or editing a resource, besides the name and capacity, you also choose the "Capacity counted by" method:

• Per booking: Each booking takes up one slot of capacity, regardless of how many people are in it — most common, suited to resources like music rooms or private rooms, where "one party uses the whole resource." Set capacity to 1 and the entire time slot can only be booked by one party (venue-rental effect); set it to 2 or more to allow that many concurrent bookings in the same slot.
• Per person: Each customer takes up one slot of capacity — suited to group classes and event tickets. For example, a yoga class with capacity 10 fills up once 10 different customers each book 1 spot.

The capacity-counting method can't be changed while the resource has any future bookings — wait until those bookings are finished, or cancel/reschedule them first.

WARNING

Assigning a resource does not let a single staff member take more than one booking at a time. A service set to "Carried out by one staff member (one booking at a time)" still has that person serving only one booking at a time, even with a resource assigned — the resource only adds an extra limit on how many bookings can run at once (for example, 3 teachers and 2 rooms means at most 2 concurrent bookings). To let one time slot hold multiple students, set "How It's Carried Out" to "No staff assigned (multiple bookings per slot)" instead.

Lowering Capacity

If you lower a resource's capacity and an upcoming session's current occupancy already exceeds the new number, the system shows a warning — this is just a warning, it doesn't block your change, and existing bookings aren't affected (they won't be canceled or altered). Only newly created bookings are subject to the new capacity limit.

Resource-Only Services: No Staff Assigned

When a service's "How It's Carried Out" setting is "Resource only, no staff needed," customers don't need to choose a staff member when booking — they only pick a time slot (and headcount, if "Customers choose a headcount" is enabled). This suits services like renting a space, escape rooms, or rehearsal rooms — cases where you're selling the resource itself, not a specific staff member's time.

INFO

A service set to "Carried out by one staff member (one booking at a time)" always needs at least one staff member assigned, even with a resource attached. Only "No staff assigned (multiple bookings per slot)" can leave staff empty.

Dashboard notifications (created/confirmed/canceled/rescheduled, etc.) are normally sent to the staff member assigned to that booking. Since a resource-only booking has no staff to notify, the system automatically sends these notifications to the merchant's Owner/Admin instead (Members don't receive these notifications).

What Customers See

• Slot list: when capacity is nearly full, it shows ":count remaining"; a fully booked slot still appears in the list, but as an unclickable "Full" state — it doesn't disappear from the list, and automatically becomes bookable again once a cancellation or reschedule frees up a spot.
• When choosing a headcount, a slot's bookable state updates in real time — for example, if the remaining capacity can't fit the chosen headcount, that slot immediately becomes unselectable.
• These services can be combined with other services/ticket types in the same order, as long as the combined items share the same resource (for example, adding both full-price and student tickets to the same booking). The system only blocks combining two different resources into one booking.
• LINE conversational booking does not support choosing a headcount or handling a resource service without a staff member inside the conversation. Customers who select one of these services receive a link to the full booking page.

Dashboard Calendar

• When a session has multiple bookings from different customers, the calendar (day/week view) automatically merges them into a single block with a headcount badge showing current occupancy against capacity (for example, "8/10").
• Clicking the merged block expands the full list for that session (customer names and their respective headcounts); after selecting entries, you can "Mark Complete" for all of them in bulk, instead of handling each one individually.
• If the combined headcount exceeds the resource's capacity (for example, if you lowered capacity afterward, or manually added bookings as an exception), the block shows a warning style so you can catch sessions that need attention early.
• Bookings for resource-only services have no staff assigned, so the calendar automatically files them under "No staff required."
• The Appointments list (sidebar "Appointments") can show a separate "Resource" column: use the column toggle at the top right of the list and turn on "Resource" to list the resource each booking occupies (a resource shared by several items in the same booking is listed once). The column is off by default.

Common Questions

Can customers see the resource name? No. The resource name is only used on your dashboard for identification and management — customers never see the resource name itself, only the slot's bookable state (":count remaining" / "Full").

If a fully booked slot has a cancellation later, does it reopen? Yes. Capacity is calculated in real time — as soon as someone cancels or reschedules and frees up a spot, that slot automatically becomes bookable again, with no manual action needed from you.

Does lowering capacity affect existing bookings? No. Lowering capacity only affects newly created bookings — existing bookings aren't canceled or changed. If an upcoming session's current occupancy already exceeds the new capacity after you lower it, the system shows a warning but doesn't block your change.

Does deleting a resource also delete the services using it? No — but the system blocks the deletion first. A resource still referenced by a service can't be deleted; reassign the affected services to a different resource, or back to "No resource," before you can delete it.

Can I change the capacity-counting method (Per booking/Per person) anytime? Only while that resource has no future bookings. If it already has future bookings, the system blocks the change until those bookings finish, or you cancel/reschedule them to clear the slot.

Are "Customers choose a headcount" and resource capacity the same thing? No, but they can be used together. "Customers choose a headcount" is a setting on the service itself, letting customers pick their own headcount with the total calculated automatically. Resource capacity is a separate mechanism limiting how many bookings/people a single session can hold. A one-on-one service can also enable "Customers choose a headcount" on its own, without assigning a resource.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Cause & Fix
"A resource is required for services that take multiple bookings per session" shown on submit	The selected resource was deleted before submitting, or doesn't belong to your current merchant — refresh the page and reselect it from the dropdown
A resource can't be deleted	That resource is still referenced by a service (the "Resources" list shows which services are using it) — reassign the affected services to a different resource, or back to "No resource," first
"Name already in use" shown when adding a resource	Resource names must be unique within your business — use a different name
The merged calendar block shows a warning style	That session's total headcount currently exceeds the resource's capacity (usually because capacity was lowered without adjusting existing bookings) — existing bookings aren't affected; coordinate with the customer or leave it as is, depending on the situation
"This resource has future bookings, so the capacity-counting method can't be changed" shown on save	The field itself is still clickable, but the resource already has future bookings, so the system blocks the save — wait until those bookings finish, or cancel/reschedule them first

Related Articles

• Add Services & Pricing
• Confirm, Cancel & Reschedule
• Multi-Slot Bookings
• Notification Settings — where resource-only booking notifications get sent on the merchant side